Micron's CEO, Sanjay Mehrotra, expressed on July 1st that semiconductor shipments will significantly move up in the 5G and electric vehicle sectors as the world economy gradually recovers from the pandemic.
According to Mehrotra, the market demand nowadays is more diversified than ever. In the future, electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles will require more storage spaces as they perform advanced tasks like data collecting. In the smartphone, gaming, and industrial sectors, the demand for chips is constantly growing. The chip market, as a whole, has become healthier and stronger than in the past.
Looking ahead, Mehrotra predicts that the transformation of wireless networking technology will indirectly stimulate and help raise the demand for Micron's chip products. As the 5G technologies that power smartphones, artificial intelligence, intelligence edge and smart devices will need extra memory and storage space, they will all become the key sources of the escalating demand for chips.
According to Mehrotra, even with the improved demand outlook, Micron is still likely to remain cautious when it comes to building new fabs and expanding capacity, and its supplies will only be adjusted according to the long-term demand. The chip shortage issue is currently expected to last until the end of 2021 or 2022. As the shortage is eased in the future, the previously suppressed demand will be unleashed.
According to Micron's Q3 financial report for the fiscal year 2021, its revenue has risen by 36% YoY from that of 2020, coming to 7.42 billion USD, which is higher than the previously forecasted 7.24 billion USD at Wall Street. Its earnings per share (EPS) for Q3 beat expectations as well, coming to 1.88 USD, higher than the previously forecasted 1.72 USD.
Micron projects that in 4Q21, its revenue will be within the range of 8 billion to 8.4 billion USD, rather than the forecasted 7.82 billion USD from Wall Street. The company also predicts that its earnings per share will reach 2.2~2.4 USD, higher than the market's current prediction of 2.18 USD per share.
（Image：Micron）
